The most interesting thing about the original Resident Evil game (and its remake as well) is that it is actually non-canonical to the rest of the series that it spawned.
Allow me to explain.
Resident Evil 1 has two playable routes, one for Jill, and one for Chris, and each of these routes has several possible endings. None of them are canon to the series timeline as it continues.
Now you might guess that it’s the endings that are non-canonical. That’s a good guess but it’s incorrect.
It’s the routes themselves that are non-canonical.
See, in the RE1 game, if you play Jill, Chris spends the entire game locked up in a cell until you either rescue him or leave him to die. If you play as Chris, the same is true for Jill.
But according to the rest of the games, neither of these routes happened. According to the canon timeline, both Chris and Jill were exploring the mansion at the same time, neither of them was locked up.
So it is impossible to play Resident Evil 1 and see the canonical events of the timeline. The canonical events of the timeline according to the game series itself are simply not recorded in any possible play-through of RE1.
Resident Evil 1 is non-canonical to its own series.
